Does the government work for us, or do we work for the government? We pay its taxes, obey its laws and regulations, finance its wars and submit to its surveillance. We are told that all of this is necessary for personal safety, collective prosperity and national security. Yet the government has become totalitarian while individuals have become powerless.
The very institution established to protect our natural rights has become our greatest threat.
The Fourth Amendment protects the right to privacy by prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures and requiring judicial warrants supported by probable cause. Yet the National Security Agency has developed a surveillance apparatus capable of intercepting and examining all electronic communications traveling through the fiber-optic cables that carry the world’s internet traffic.
The NSA literally captures every keystroke and telephonic conversation of every person in America. It subjects Americans who are suspected of absolutely nothing to continuous surveillance. The distinction between collecting information first and examining it later offers little comfort to someone whose private life has become government property.
Privacy is not a privilege granted by government. It is a natural right protected by the Constitution. The burden belongs to government to establish probable cause before invading the privacy of an individual, not to its victims to demonstrate afterward why they deserved privacy before the government stole it.
And the loss of privacy produces fear. People who believe their conversations, correspondence, internet searches, medical, legal and banking records, and political associations are being monitored become less willing to be candid. They hesitate before criticizing or challenging government officials, or associating with controversial organizations. They begin self-censorship.
This is how surveillance destroys freedom without ever having to prosecute anyone.
